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Yale Summer Session Presents Bertrand Lavédrine

July 7, 2016

On Thursday, July 14th, Bertrand Lavédrine Professor at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris (France), and the Director of the Centre de Recherche sur la Conservation des Collections (CRCC) will give a lecture at Sudler Hall at 4:45 PM. Attendance is open to the public.

Conservation: a Fight Against Time(?): Durability, Changes, Risks and Values

Cultural property is unique and irreplaceable, conveying all kinds of significances and messages. Conservation professionals have the responsibility to preserve and promote that legacy, which unfortunately continuously disappears. Museum collections, in particular, suffered greatly from the lack of understanding on the ageing behavior of the materials and on the techniques used for manufacturing, or for the conservation and preservation of cultural goods. Today, this field is much more defined and dialogues occur between various scientific disciplines, also integrating societal priorities like that of sustainable development. Preservation can bloom only in particular conditions which are less connected to a technological environment than to a certain maturity, to a recognition of the unique and irreplaceable character of cultural property and the values which are attached it.

Biography

Bertrand Lavédrine received a doctoral degree from the Faculty of Humanities, University of Panthéon-Sorbonne, with a thesis in Art and Archeology, and has a Master’s degree in organic chemistry. He is a professor at the National Museum of Natural History and head of the Centre de Recherche sur la Conservation in Paris, France.